Cover for decanter or like liquid dispensing container

ABSTRACT

Removable cap, having a pouring spout thereon, fits snugly over straight-necked decanters or like fluid dispensing containers, has integral skirt, extended to serve as unobtrusive handle to be gripped in the hand of user for pouring purposes without direct contact with neck of container. Skirt has integral inner lip forming peripheral recess for yielding reception of top edge of container neck, thereby to hold cap in place for such pouring, by operation of closure means normally closing spout opening. Closure means has no springs or other bulky protruding parts, and, it is operable by finger pressure of the hand used for gripping skirt to support container for said pouring purposes.

United States Patent Alpern COVER FOR DECANTER OR LIKE LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINER [76] Inventor: Melvin Alpern,'c/o Starlite Mfg. Co.,

9800 McKnight Road, Pittsburgh, Pa. 15237 22 Filed: Oct. 14, 1971' [21] Appl. N0.: 189,454

[52] U.S. Cl. 222/556 [51] Int. Cl 365d 47/00 [58] Field of Search 222/472, 494, 556,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,405,851 10/1968 Barker et al. 222/517 X 3,165,243 1/1965 Haynes 222/517 X 1,173,546 2/1916 Baron 222/472 569,351 10/1896 Putnam..... 222/556 2,120,699 6/1938 Gamble 222/472 3,212,686 10/1965 Pierre et al. 222/556 X 3,168,226 2/1965 Underwood et al. 222/556 X Primary ExaminerSamuel F. Coleman Assistant Examiner-Norman L. Stack, Jr. Attorney-William Cleland [57] ABSTRACT Removable cap, having a pouring; spout thereon, fits snugly over straight-necked decanters or like fluid dispensing containers, has integral skirt, extended to serve as unobtrusive handle to be gripped in the hand of user for pouring purposes without direct contact with neck of container. Skirt has integral inner lip forming peripheral recess for yielding reception of top edge of container neck, thereby to hold cap in place for such pouring, by operation of closure means normally closing spout opening. Closure means has no springs or other bulky protruding parts, and, it is operable by finger pressure of the hand used for gripping skirt to support container for said pouring purposes.

10 Claims, 9 Drawing Figures PAIENIED JUN I 9 973 COVER FOR DECANTER OR LIKE LIQUID DISPENSING CONTAINER BACKGROUND OF INVENTION While there are numerous prior patents which show pouring spout caps for containers, the best known prior art on the subject fails to disclose the spout cap of the present invention.

Pierrio et al., U. S. Pat. No. 3,212,686, as a typical example, discloses a plastic, screw-top closure cap having a pouring spout and a large integral handle on the same, and a hinged closure strip for the pouring spout. The closure strip, however, is opened by having a long protruding, integral lever for manipulation thereof, and also requires provision of an elongated, integral attaching lug which is snapped into spaced edges on the cap portions, whereby in use of the device the closure strip is subject to breakage at the pivot point of the same.

The decanter caps of the present invention, on the other hand, have top portions which are substantially free of protrusions, other than small buttons which are mainly indications of where to press down on the resilient plastic closure plates, for bending the same, yieldingly to elevate free ends of the plates normally closing the mouths of the pouring spouts. In other words, there are no protruding parts on the container cap of the present invention such as handles, levers, spring actuated mechanisms and/or housings for the same, and there are no metal or other sliding closure parts to be gummed up by the dispensed liquids.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION The present invention relates to an improved, easy to operate pouring spout cap, as for decanters having elongated tubular necks, and which are relatively inexpensive to produce by known plastic molding methods. The caps may be of molded plastic to have an elongated tubular skirt and an upwardly presented closure wall provided wijh an opening therein for connecting with a pouring spout protruding radially of the skirt. The skirt is constructed and proportioned for relatively tight application over a substantial extent of the neck of the container until the upper end of the neck is yieldingly received in an annular groove, defined by an integral lip extending inwardly of the skirt, to form a fluid seal therewith. The skirt serves as a protective handle for the container, without having protuberances of the character described.

A closure device for the opening in the pouring spout may include an elongated closure plate of thin, semihard, but somewhat flexible plastic material of well known types, seated in a recess formed or molded in the top wall. The closure plate may have aligned pins or stems at the end of the same opposite from the spout, which have been snapped into transversely undercut aligned pivot recesses in the top wall at opposite sides of a plate, and within which recesses the plate is complimentally received to pivot as necessary. Intermediate the spout opening and said aligned pivot recesses, the top wall similarly may have a pair of transversely elongated notches provided therein to define laterally undercut, transversely extending guide edges, under which another pair of laterally aligned, integral stems are snapped to hold the closure plate locked flatwise in the plane of the top wall. The top wall also may have formed therein a shallow chamber which is normally closed by the elongated strip overlying the same.

By yieldingly depressing the flexible strip into said shallow chamber, to an extent determined by the movement of the pivot pins in the aforesaid elongated notches, the forward free end of the strip is flexed upwardly. This operation is accomplished by pressing the index finger of one hand against the strip while grasping the cap sleeve in the same hand, as for pouring fluid from the spout of the decanter.

A general object of the invention is to provide an improved cap, as for fluid containers of the character described, utilizing inexpensive parts, and which includes novel manually operable valving means for a pouring spout on said cap which does not require provision of bulky mechanisms and/or a protruding handles.

Other objects of the invention will be manifest from the following brief description and the accompanying drawings:

Of the accompanying drawings:

FIG. I is a side elevation illustrating one form of improved pouring spout cap of the invention, applied over the tubular neck of a glass or like fluid container or decanter.

FIG. 2 is a top plan view of the cap shown in FIG. 1, on the same scale, to illustrate a manually operable valvular plate for a pouring spout on the cap.

FIG. 3 is a vertical cross-section through the cap, taken substantially on the line 3-3 of FIG. 1, and on the same scale.

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary vertical cross-section, taken substantially on the line 4-4 of FIG. 2, on a larger scale, to illustrate a relatively fixed, but selectively releasable, hinge pin connection between the valvular plate and the cap.

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary top plan. view corresponding in part to FIG. 2, but on a larger scale.

FIG. 6 is a vertical cross-section taken on the line 6-6 of FIG. 5, and on the same scale, to illustrate the manner of releasably mounting the valvular plate for manual operation thereof to open and close the pouring spout.

FIG. 7 is a fragmentary cross-section, corresponding to the lower right-hand portion of FIG. 3, but on a larger scale, illustrating provision of an internal screw thread means on the cap skirt for threaded connection of the cap on the neck of a decanter having corresponding thread means.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view, corresponding to FIG. 5, on the same scale, and illustrating :a modified form of spout valving means for the container cap.

FIG. 9 is a side elevation, partly broken away and in section, in the area as viewed along the line 9-9 of FIG. 8, and also on the same scale as FIG. 8.

Referring to FIGS. 1 to 6, of the drawings, there is illustrated a cup-shaped cap 15 for removably fitting over a tubular neck 16,, of a glass or like decanter 16. The cap 15 may comprise a molded axially elongated tubular skirt 117, of hard or semi-hard plastic material, an integral top closure wall 18, and an integral pouring spout 19 which protrudes radially of the skirt 17 to have an upper edge in a plane generally parallel with the closure wall 18, and serving as a valving seat 20.

The skirt 17 is of sufficient axial length to be gripped in one hand, and thereby serve as an insulating handle for the decanter. An annular lip 22 may be integrally molded on the inner surface of the skirt, adjacent closure wall 18 to define an annular groove 23 between the lip and said inner wall surface, for tight fluid-sealing reception of the upper edge of the decanter neck in the groove, against the yielding resiliency of the lip. The space between the lip 22 and closure wall 18 serves as a relatively unobstructed chamber communicating directly with the pouring spout aperture 26.

Referring now to FIGS. ll, 2, 5 and 6 in general and to FIGS. 5 and 6 in particular, there is shown a simple and yet very efficient and economical valvular means 27 for manually opening and closing the spout aperture 26. For this purpose a thick, elongated, plate 28 of resilient material, such as molded semi-hard, synthetic elastic plastic, is hingedly mounted on hinge axes at spaced points 29 and 30 to be yieldingly supported flatwise and complementally fitted within a plate recess 31 in the closure wall, and to have an internal closure extension 32 normally engaging said valving seat 20 for closing the spout aperture 26.

For manually opening and closing the valvular plate 28, one said hinged mounting may be provided to have lost-motion effect whereby upon manual pressure of a finger against a button 33 on the plate 28, intermediate the spaced hinge axes, the entire plate is bowed inwardly, yielding to move the closure extension 32 outwardly of the spout opening 20 for pouring purposes, as shown in chain-dotted lines in FIG. 6.

In the form of the invention as best shown in FIGS. 6 and 7, thefixed hinge connection is at the right hand end of the plate 28 and includes laterally spaced pivot pins 34, 34 which are integral with the plate 28, and which are yieldingly pressed past undercut spaced edges of slots 35, 35 provided in the closure wall 18, at the opposite edges defining the plate-receiving recess 31. The second hinge connection at 29 is provided with lost-motion hinged action, by similar pivot pins 36, 36 which are yieldingly pressed past spaced undercut edges 37, 37 of transversely elongated slots 38 at opposite sides of the plate. By manually depressing a button 32 on the plate, at a point intermediate the spaced hinge axes, resultant movement of the movable pins, in direction toward the fixed hinge point pins, causes the closure plate to be bowed downwardly, thereby to elevate the valving end 32 to open position, as shown in chain-dotted lines in FIG. 5.

The top wall 18 may have a depressed wall portion 18,, formed thereon, to provide a closed recess 18,, into which the valvular plate 28 can be bowed without exposure to fluid being poured from the container. The bottom wall portion 18,, may also serve to limit the extent to which the plate 28 can be depressed.

Thus, with the cap affixed on the neck of 16,, of the decanter 16, the skirt portion 117 can be grasped in one hand at various points for pouring purposes, because there are no handles or other protruding parts obstructing use of a finger to press the button 33 for operating the valvular plate 28.

Referring to FIG. 5, there is illustrated a modification of the closure cap 17'shown in FIG. 3, in which an internal thread 17a is provided for use on containers 16a provided with complementally threaded portions.

Referring now to FIGS. 8 and 9, there is illustrated a modified closure cap 37 for attachment to a decanter neck 16a generally as shown in FIGS. l to 3 and 7. Like parts, therefore, will be designated by like numbers unless otherwise noted. In this instance, however, a thin yieldingly flexible valvular piage 38 having the same general shape and location as the plate 28 shown in FIG. 5, has axially aligned pivot pins 39, 39, releasably received in undercut slots 40, 40 in the top wall 18,, in

the manner of the fixed hinge points 35 in FIG. 5. The end of the plate 38 opposite the spout end thereof, however, has an integral lug or flange 42, which curves downwardly and inwardly, and nestles snugly in a complementally shaped portion 43 of a wall 44 defining a curvate recess 45 in the top wall 18, of the closure cup A suitably positioned button 47 on the closure plate 38 is manually yieldingly depressible as before, to bow the closure plate inwardly between the relatively fixed, axially aligned, pivot pins 39 and the top of the lung 42 which acts as a movable yieldingly flexible pivotal area, which determines the extent of the downwardly bowing movement of the plate and, therefore, the amount of upward pivotal opening movement of the closure end 32 of the valvular plate, as shown in chain-dotted lines in FIG. 9. In other words, the lug 42, while serving as an anchoring device for holding the valvular plate 38 in its closed, horizontal position as shown also serves as a resilient anchor or hinge means which determines the degree of spout opening movement of the plate by the amount of bowing movement thereof, as described above.

It should be particularly noted that, as compared with the known related prior art pouring spout caps for decanters, each of the several forms of closure caps of the present invention need only to be composed of two dis tinct parts, both of which can be economically produced, by plastic molding methods, in multiple cavity molds. The improved closure caps, moveover, can be easily assembled, with a minimum of labor and other costs, because the valvular plates can be quickly snapped together, into the above described hinging connections, ready for immediate attachment to decanters.

Other modifications of the invention may be resorted to without departing from the spirit thereof or the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

ll. A cover, as for a decanter or like liquid dispensing container having a neck portion, comprising: a cap including an annular skirt portion for attachment over the neck portion of the container, an upper closure wall, and a pouring spout extending outwardly from said skirt and having upwardly presented seat means; the closure wall having an opening therein leading to the spout, the closure wall having a depressed portion having a closed bottom and an open top, a valvular plate of flexible material mounted on said cap and closing the open top of the depressed portion, the plate having a valving end normally closing said spout opening, and an opposite end thereof hingedly supported on the cap over the depressed portion; said valvular plate, at a point intermediate said valving end and said opposite end, having a second point of hinged support on the cap, whereby upon application of manual pressure to the plate intermediate said two points of hinged support, said plate is bowed inwardly of said closure wall into the depressed portion to swing said valving end of the plate away from said spout opening for pouring purposes.

2. A removable cover as in claim 1, including means adjacent the lower portion of said skirt cooperating with the neck of the container for maintaining said resilient lip in tight contact against the upper edge of the neck of the container.

3. A cover as defined in claim 1, one said point of hinged support being relatively fixed and the other being relatively movable.

4. A cover as defined in claim 2, wherein said first point of hinged support is relatively fixed, and said second point of hinged support is relatively movable with opening and closing operation of said valvular plate.

5. A cover as defined in claim 3, wherein said first and second points of hinged support include recess means in said closure wall including undercut retaining edges and pivotal stern means on said valvular plate releasably retained in said recess means by said undercut retaining edges.

6. A cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said first point of hinged support is relatively fixed, and second point of hinged support is relatively movable with opening and closing operation of said valvular plate.

7. A cover as defined in claim 1, said closure wall including inwardly spaced stop means engageable by the manually depressed part of said plate.

8. A cover as defined in claim 1, said valvular plate having thereon an outward protrusion at said intermediate point to facilitate application of said manual pressure to open the pouring spout.

9. A cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said cap includes an axially elongated tubular skirt portion, of resilient plastic material for removable complemental reception thereof over the neck of the container, an integral upwardly presented closure wall, and an integral pouring spout opening upwardly of said closure wall; said skirt having a radially inwardly presented, integral, resilient lip forming an annular groove for yielding fluid-sealing reception of the upper edge of the neck therein; said skirt being of substantial axial extent adapted to be firmly gripped by the fingers of a user of the container for pouring purposes without direct contact of the fingers with the neck of the container.

10. A removable cover as in claim 1, including means adjacent the lower portion of said skirt cooperating with the neck of the container for maintaining said resilient lip in tight contact against the upper edge of the neck of the container. 

1. A cover, as for a decanter or like liquid dispensing container having a neck portion, comprising: a cap including an annular skirt portion for attachment over the neck portion of the container, an upper closure wall, and a pouring spout extending outwardly from said skirt and having upwardly presented seat means; the closure wall having an opening therein leading to the spout, the closure wall having a depressed portion having a closed bottom and an open top, a valvular plate of flexible material mounted on said cap and closing the open top of the depressed portion, the plate having a valving end normally closing said spout opening, and an opposite end thereof hingedly supported on the cap over the depressed portion; said valvular plate, at a point intermediate said valving end and said opposite end, having a second point of hinged support on the cap, whereby upon application of manual pressure to the plate intermediate said two points of hinged support, said plate is bowed inwardly of said closure wall into the depressed portion to swing said valving end of the plate away from said spout opening for pouring purposes.
 2. A removable cover as in claim 1, including means adjacent the lower portion of said skirt cooperating with the neck of the container for maintaining said resilient lip in tight contact against the upper edge of the neck of the container.
 3. A cover as defined in claim 1, one said point of hinged support being relatively fixed and the other being relatively movable.
 4. A cover as defined in claim 2, wherein said first point of hinged support is relatively fixed, and said second point of hinged support is relatively movable with opening and closing operation of said valvular plate.
 5. A cover as defined in claim 3, wherein said first and second points of hinged support include recess means in said closure wall including undercut retaining edges and pivotal stem means on said valvular plate releasably retained in said recess means by said undercut retaining edges.
 6. A cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said first point of hinged support is relatively fixed, and second point of hinged support is relatively movable with opening and closing operation of said valvular plate.
 7. A cover as defined in claim 1, said closure wall including inwardly spaced stop means engageable by the manually depressed part of said plate.
 8. A cover as defined in claiM 1, said valvular plate having thereon an outward protrusion at said intermediate point to facilitate application of said manual pressure to open the pouring spout.
 9. A cover as defined in claim 1, wherein said cap includes an axially elongated tubular skirt portion, of resilient plastic material for removable complemental reception thereof over the neck of the container, an integral upwardly presented closure wall, and an integral pouring spout opening upwardly of said closure wall; said skirt having a radially inwardly presented, integral, resilient lip forming an annular groove for yielding fluid-sealing reception of the upper edge of the neck therein; said skirt being of substantial axial extent adapted to be firmly gripped by the fingers of a user of the container for pouring purposes without direct contact of the fingers with the neck of the container.
 10. A removable cover as in claim 1, including means adjacent the lower portion of said skirt cooperating with the neck of the container for maintaining said resilient lip in tight contact against the upper edge of the neck of the container. 